by Kenneth Copeland
Christmas is a season of giving. God sent His Son to earth to redeem all mankind, and we spend the entire season celebrating this most precious gift. As part of the festivities, people go to great effort and expense to select and purchase gifts for loved ones. If you’re like me, you find great joy in giving.
Giving is certainly an important principle to learn in the kingdom of God. If you study the Bible, it’s not hard to discern that God, too, finds great joy in giving, and He’s the biggest Giver of all.
But, what about receiving? If God is the biggest Giver of all and finds great joy in giving to us, how are we supposed to receive from Him? Let me illustrate what I mean by telling you a story about Pop, Gloria’s grandfather.
Strong. Sweet. Godly.
Pop was one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known. He belonged to a generation that was determined to pay its own way. He’d give you everything he had, but you couldn’t give him anything.
Of course it’s an admirable thing for people to want to pull their own load; but the fact is, our lives aren’t complete until we learn how to receive. And that was something Pop had never learned.
I remember when I discovered how true that was. He had an old, beat-up watch that he’d been wearing for years. One day the watchband broke, so he ran a paper clip through the band, bent the paper clip over the top of the watch, and wore it that way.
When I saw that paper clip holding his watchband together, I thought, A fine gentleman and man of God shouldn’t be wearing an old, broken watch like that! So I bought him a new watch. I didn’t pay a lot of money for it, but I saw it, liked it and decided to buy it. When Christmas came, I gave the watch to him as a gift.
Two or three months later we were back over at his place and I noticed that Pop didn’t have on his new watch. He was wearing that same old, broken watch.
I said, “Pop, where’s your new watch?”
“Oh, I don’t wear that,” he said.
“Is there something wrong with it? If that’s the case, I’ll get you another watch.”
“Oh, no, no. It’s a fine watch. It’s too fine. That watch is too nice for me.” He was serious.
He simply couldn’t receive my gift.
I remember feeling as if a door had slammed in my face. I had given Pop that watch and wanted to see him wear it. I was left with something missing when he refused to receive it from me (the joy of being a blessing to someone I cared about); and he was left with something missing, too. He was left without the blessing of wearing a new watch.
Robbed by False Humility
At that moment, The LORD spoke to me. Do you see how that Robbed by False Humilitymakes you feel? It does the same thing to Me. Of course, you know that he’s saying these things out of humility, don’t you?
I said, Yes, Sir, I know he is.
But do you realize that it isn’t true humility? The LORD continued. All it did was grieve your heart.
Suddenly, I had a clear picture of how I had often treated The LORD.
We have the tendency to do the same thing Gloria’s grandfather did. Every day, God’s grace is extended to us, but often a sense of false humility keeps us from receiving. We don’t have confidence in the Giver so we turn away from His gifts.
You are Mine. Come and be blessed by Me, The LORD says.
“Oh, God,” we reply, “I might take a little bit of Your provision, just enough to get by, but I don’t think that it would be right for me to receive too many blessings from You.”
That’s false humility, and as I learned from Pop, false humility grieves God
How can we avoid grieving God in this way? We must learn that we walk in a great, eternal covenant that’s been formed between the Son and the Father. In addition, we need to get a clear concept of the grace of God, and take our place in it.
Let God Bless You
Your ability to operate in the grace to receive from God is linked to your understanding of your righteousness before Him—a righteousness purchased for you by Jesus’ sacrificial death.
In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:21 declares that we become the righteousness of God. Chapter 6, verse 1, says this: “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain” (KJV).
Do you see the connection? The WORD is clear. Failing to understand that you stand before God completely righteous—robed in the purity and authority of Jesus Himself—will cause you to nullify the operation of God’s grace in your life.
God wants to treat you as if you’ve never sinned. He wants to treat you like you are the smartest, holiest and most beautiful thing that ever existed.
All this time, He’s been trying to treat us this way, and yet we wouldn’t allow it. Like Gloria’s grandfather, we haven’t learned how to receive. When God has tried to bless us, we’ve said, “I’m just an old sinner, saved by grace. I’m not deserving of that.”
Well, you’re either an old sinner or you’re saved by grace. You can’t be both, and you need to make up your mind which one you want to be. If you are saved by grace, then you need to quit calling yourself an old sinner and start believing in the fullness of God’s saving grace.
When you refuse to receive the gifts that God is trying to bestow on you, you insult the blood of Jesus and reject the grace of God. You need to make up your mind that you’re not going to do that anymore!
I want to remind you that God is no respecter of persons. Everything that He has ever done for Jesus, He will do for you. Everything He has ever given Jesus, He will give to you. Remember: “If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32, KJV).
We are joint heirs with Jesus and His Anointing. We are one spirit with Him. Everything that Jesus has is ours, and we access these blessings by faith.
Faith to Receive This Christmas
In 2 Corinthians 8:9, the Bible says that Jesus, who was very rich, for our sakes became poor so that we, through His poverty, might become rich. He did it so that we would be abundantly supplied.
In this hour, God is urging us to abound in this grace, too. Jesus has given us everything heaven has to offer, and He wants us to step into our wealthy place in Him (Psalm 66:12).
Sadly, when most Christians hear that news, they respond as Pop did. “I can’t wear that. It’s too nice for me.” Don’t be guilty of grieving God’s heart in this way. Receive God’s promise of abundance by faith so that you might abound in His grace.
God loves it when you find out what is yours. He doesn’t wait until Christmas to bless us with His promises. They are ours for the taking every day! Will you receive them?
Dare to Receive From Him This Christmas!
- Right this very moment, God has blessings and promises that He has set before you, in the same way I set the watch before Pop. Ask The LORD to reveal to you the gifts you have left on the table. Then, ask for God’s forgiveness for not accepting them, and tell Him that you’ll receive them now!
- Thank God for all that He has provided for you through the gift of Jesus Christ, and determine to receive everything He died to give you.
- Ask God for the wisdom to bless others this season with the gifts He’s given you.
- Practice being a good receiver! Each time you are given a gift this Christmas, receive it with joy by expressing your thanks and gratitude. Eliminate phrases like, “I wish you wouldn’t have done that,” and “I can’t possibly accept this.” Instead, say things like, “I receive this gift as a blessing from The LORD,” and, “I will receive it.”
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